Entries in "School of Medicine"
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January 25, 2007
Department of Physiology and Biophysics ranked 2nd in the nation at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
dBusiness News Cleveland, January 25, 2007
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine's Department of Physiology and Biophysics has recently been ranked second in the nation of academic medical centers offering doctoral programs by the Chronicle of Higher Education. "I am very proud that the Department of Physiology and Biophysics has scored so well in this ranking, which is driven largely by objective measures rather than subjective reputation score," said Pamela Davis, interim dean. Read article.
December 22, 2006
Holidays and children with ADHD: Tips to help parents cope
Star Beacon, December 20, 2006
It's a given: During the holidays, the youngsters are going to be more distracted, more fidgety, than normal. But for a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the natural excitement of the holidays combined with their response can transform the family dinner, gift exchange or worship service into a tortuous, tumultuous experience. "Putting the brakes on these kids can be really hard during the holidays," says Robert Findling, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland. Read article.
December 21, 2006
Feline healer visits shelter
News-Herald, December 17, 2006
Cats have chakras, or points of energy. At least, they do if you ask Elaine Gallovic, a registered nurse and provider of craniosacral therapy and healing touch for pets. Gallovic, a longtime volunteer for the Geauga Humane Society in Russell Township, shared her touch-centered philosophy with more than two dozen volunteers and cat lovers last Wednesday, in a demonstration on healing, soothing, and "full-body energy balancing" for pets. Brenda Donohue from Shaker Heights was an observer. "I work at Case Western Reserve University in the bioethics department, so human and animal interaction is very interesting to me." Read article.
December 19, 2006
Teen tummies trimmed
WNYC, December 18, 2006
As the national waistline grows larger, more people are choosing to make their stomachs smaller. They're undergoing bariatric surgery, a category of various operations to reduce the size of the stomach or bypass it entirely. People feel full faster, eat less, and take on fewer calories. A growing proportion of these patients are teenagers. Nutritional expert Paul Ernsberger doesn't think that's a good enough reason to go under the knife. The Case Western Reserve University medical school professor thinks the risks are too high for people to think of obesity surgery like they would breast implants or liposuction. Read article.
December 11, 2006
Study finds risk of getting HIV not raised by birth control pills
The Plain Dealer, December 9, 2006
Birth control pills and other forms of hormonal contraception do not elevate a woman's risk of contracting HIV, according to a large international study that included work by Case Western Reserve University. The findings were published Thursday in the online edition of the journal AIDS and will appear in the January printed edition. Read article.
December 08, 2006
Standardizing ICU care would not harm patients
Reuters, December 7, 2006
Resources used by different physicians in intensive care units (ICU) vary widely without influencing patient outcomes, according to a report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Garland and colleagues from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center investigated the discretionary costs, ICU length of stay, and hospital mortality for 1,184 patients cared for by nine different intensive care specialists. Read article.
December 06, 2006
Pfizer problems emblematic of industry obstacles
NPR Online, December 5, 2006
The decision by Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, to abandon work on a promising cholesterol drug has some analysts wondering whether the industry can continue to grow at the same pace. Cardiologist Eric Topol of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland says it's difficult for the pharmaceutical industry to find a drug that adds meaningful new benefits for someone who is already taking four or five drugs a day, including aspirin, a statin and a blood thinner. Read article.
December 05, 2006
Revamp of brain 'could slow CJD'
BBC News Online, December 4, 2006
Tests in mice with scrapie—a disease similar to CJD in humans and BSE in cattle—showed the life-extending treatment works. The method used by the German team involves molecules called special RNAs (siRNAs), Journal of Clinical Investigation reports. These shut down the production of proteins that go awry in prion disease. Qingzhong Kong, an expert in prion diseases at the Case Western Reserve University in the United States, said: "Much more research is needed before RNA interference can be harnessed to treat prion disease." Read article.
November 28, 2006
What ails the CDC
Time magazine.com, November 19, 2006 issue
Julie Gerberding was still a deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2001 when someone started mailing anthrax spores to newsrooms and politicians' offices around the country. A telegenic personality who connected easily with journalists, Gerberding quickly became the public face of the CDC—a rare cool head among a parade of increasingly confused health bureaucrats. Read article.
November 27, 2006
Search for cure means chase for funding: Breast cancer research part lab, part grant work
The Plain Dealer, November 27, 2006
Ruth Keri inched forward with the crush of runners in the annual Race for the Cure. Like the others, she is fighting for a cure for breast cancer one painstaking step at a time. Keri is a cancer biologist, a laboratory scientist at Case Western Reserve University who studies an aggressive form of breast cancer. At 43, she is a rising star in breast cancer research who also is elbow to elbow with young scientists in the high-stakes race for grants that fuel their work. Read article.
Sleep may be key to staying trim
The New Zealand Herald, November 25, 2006
Middle-aged women may be able to sleep their way to a trimmer body, new study findings suggest. In a study that followed more than 68,000 U.S. women for 16 years, researchers found that those who caught more zzz's each night tended to put on less weight during middle age. The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and presented this year at a medical conference, add to evidence that sleep habits affect a person's weight. Dr. Sanjay R. Patel of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland led the research. Read article.
November 22, 2006
Alzheimer's research makes dramatic shift to widen perspective
The Wall Street Journal online, November 17, 2006
For more than 20 years, the leading theory has held that sticky blobs in the brain called amyloid plaques cause Alzheimer's disease. But as I've written before, many scientists whose work challenges the amyloid dogma have been unable to publish in top journals, and their grant proposals, "go down in flames," as Mark Smith of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine told me. Read article (subscription required).
November 21, 2006
A new way to treat migranes
Kansas.com (The Wichita Eagle). November 21, 2006
Katherine Lahar's migraines stole years of Christmases and birthdays and other special occasions from her. She never knew when the tunnel vision, the nausea, the vomiting and diarrhea and excruciating pain would hit. She just knew they would—sometimes for a week at a time. That was then. Now, she's a different person. Lahar is a beneficiary of work done by Bahman Guyuron, chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Read article.
November 17, 2006
A focus on cure or care?
Minnesota Public Radio, November 17, 2006
Researchers are learning more about Alzheimer's everyday, but some may argue that there is not enough of an emphasis on helping families cope and care for patients. Guests for the discussion are Peter Whitehouse, professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University, and John Hardy, senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health. Read article.
November 16, 2006
Michigan, Ohio deer deemed safe to eat
The Toledo Blade, November 15, 2006
Hunters need not worry about contracting a brain-wasting disease from deer when the Michigan deer firearms season opens today, officials said. So far, the disease has not been found in Michigan or Ohio deer. Ohio firearms season opens November 27. Venison lovers may take some comfort in research from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, which suggests that chronic wasting disease may not jump to humans. "So far, at least with the model available, there is still a significant species barrier," said Shu G. Chen, assistant director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center at Case and a coauthor of a study in the August issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Read article.
New test predicts best candidates for defibrillators
Forbes.com, November 16, 2006
A new, noninvasive test easily performed in a doctor's office may be able to predict which patients are at risk for sudden cardiac death and who would likely benefit from implanted defibrillators. "This trial suggests there's a way to individualize therapy for patients," said study senior author Dr. David S. Rosenbaum, professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Read article.
November 14, 2006
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine interim dean awarded highest honor for life-changing research
Genetic Engineering News, November 13, 2006
During the 20th annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference in Denver, Pamela Davis, M.D., Ph.D., Case School of Medicine interim dean, received the Paul di Sant'Agnese Award. The award is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's highest honor for scientific research achievement and is given annually to the scientist who made the most significant strides in CF studies. Read article.
November 13, 2006
Researchers relinking brain, paralyzed limbs
The Plain Dealer, November 12, 2006
In a sunny Case Western Reserve University lab, the 49-year-old Emma Freeman eases her wheelchair to an array of video screens. One displays the ghostly image of a disembodied right arm and hand, hanging motionless against a black background. A cable snakes from underneath her shirt, connecting Emma to the computer. Functional electrical stimulation (FES), the technology driving Emma's arm, is not new. Scientists at the Cleveland FES Center, a consortium of Case, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, have used various forms of stimulation to trigger muscles involved in bowel and bladder control, hand grasping and sitting upright. Read article.
November 10, 2006
Strings attached
The Plain Dealer, November 9, 2006
Take a fine violinist. Connect electrodes to her fingers, arms and shoulders. Have her play classical pieces. Record her muscle activity and transmit the readings to a laptop. "The higher the peaks and the faster the frequency, the more the muscles are working," said Katie Polafek, graduate research assistant at the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center. The project's coolness extends from the Cavani and FES Center—a research consortium of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University—to CleveMed, which develops wireless monitoring systems for neurology and rehabilitation applications. Read article.
BioLabs seeking defense contract
The Plain Dealer, November 10, 2006
Cleveland BioLabs Inc. is taking another step toward supplying the federal government with a drug that could protect the military from the ravages of a radiological attack. The technology was developed by Andrei Gudkov, chairman of the molecular biology department at the Cleveland Clinic, biochemistry professor at Case Western Reserve University and founder of and chief scientific officer of Cleveland BioLabs. Read article.
November 06, 2006
Orthopedic boom continues
Crain's Cleveland Business, November 6, 2006
There's no need to sit around with achy joints when surgery can fix it. That's the mindset of many Americans today, and one that's prompting hospitals to cash in on the popularity of orthopedic surgery. "We're seeing a huge increase in people around the country who want orthopedic surgery," said Randall Marcus, Charles H. Herndon professor and chairman of orthopedics at Case Western Reserve University. Read article (subscription required).